Article by:
James Richings
After their incredible performances at The Anvil a year ago, The Russian State Ballet & Orchestra of Siberia are back in Basingstoke.
Their moves in Snow Maiden, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake 12 months ago captivated the Churchill Way audience.
And the dancers hope to recreate the same atmosphere at the end of the month during a three-day period.
The dancers arrive in Basingstoke to perform La Fille mal Gardee on Monday, January 23, Coppelia on Tuesday, January 24 and Swan Lake on Wednesday, January 25 – the latter having two performances.
And even though it is expected to be a high-quality show for each of the three productions, production company Raymond Gubbay’s head of international touring Sergei Selivanov admitted that the dancers go through a gruelling training schedule to make sure that the audience leaves the theatres having enjoyed a great performance.
“To put it simply, the team trains almost like a sports team,” Sergei revealed.
“There is a ballet class every morning, which depends on the performance and shows timings on the day then there’s an hour of rehearsals.
“After that, there’s a short break and we go into a performance straight away — sometimes with two back to back performances.
“So if a show is scheduled at 4 pm, then the team will start at 10 am with the ballet class followed by rehearsals.”
The three shows will be toured all around the country over the next six weeks where it will travel to theatres the length and breadth of the country from Blackpool to Portsmouth.
Raymond Gubbay’s artistic director Sergei Bobrov believes the change of materials used to make the dancer’s costumes have encouraged youngsters to try ballet out in recent years, as he believes the new footwear that is available to ballet dancers is much more ‘spacious’.
“Back in 1956, the typical ballet shoe offered only so much toe-room based on the availability of materials at the time,” Sergei B explained.
“However, thanks to new materials today, a ballet dancer’s shoes are not only more spacious but are more durable and agile — offering the possibility of allowing a dancer to stand on her feet for three minutes and greatly enhancing the flexibility of the performance.”
He added: “This is a spectacular setting and our ballet dancers and the orchestra is excited to present before the audience something great.
“Plus, the production sides of the shows have been part of our repertoire for a long time and the team has been rehearsing for many months now for these performances.”
Classical music promoter Raymond Gubbay founded Raymond Gubbay Limited in 1966, and the company produces more than 500 classical music shows, operas and ballets each year that are performed all over the world.
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